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Longmont RV, camper parking limits get initial City Council OK

By John Fryar

Staff Writer

Posted:
08/08/2017 10:33:32 PM MDT

Updated:
08/08/2017 10:34:16 PM MDT

An RV is parked on Delaware Place on Monday in Longmont. (Lewis Geyer / Staff Photographer)

Recreational vehicles and camper trailers parked in Longmont's alleys or on the city's streets would have to be moved at least 600 feet within 48 hours after code enforcement or police officers mark their tires with chalk and post notices on those vehicles, under an ordinance getting preliminary City Council approval on Tuesday night.

The measure, which will be up for a public hearing and possible final council action on Aug. 22, is partly a response to complaints the city has been getting about people living in recreational vehicles and campers and keeping them parked for long periods in some neighborhoods.

If the owners of such vehicles fail to move them after 48 hours, they could be ticketed and the city could proceed to have the vehicles towed away and impounded.

The 48-hour parking limit tentatively set by the council — which would kick in when police or code enforcement officers respond to a complaint mark the vehicles — is shorter than the 72-hour period the city staff had proposed in its original draft of the ordinance prior to Tuesday's meeting.

Several people speaking at the meeting, however, argued that it should be an even shorter limit and that the city should require that the recreational vehicle be moved within 24 hours after a code enforcement or police officer responding to a complaint marks the vehicle.

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Seventy-two hours "is about 48 hours too long," said Wilbert Talmadge, a resident of the 1100 block of Baker Street.

Ethan Chutkow, who lives on the 100 block of 11th Avenue, said the issue is really not the RVs themselves but the idea "of creating a home on the street." He cited examples of people having shopping carts outside the vehicles and hanging laundry on nearby fences.

Based on his experience, Chutkow said "it may take a week for code enforcement to respond" to a resident's complaint before the vehicle is marked and the move-it time clock begins ticking.

Chutkow and Caroline Grundy, who also lives on the 100 block of 11th, said the recreational vehicle or camper trailer's owner should be given no more than 24 hours to move it before the city arranges it to be towed — a limit they said Boulder has in its code.

Grundy objected to having to wait at least three days after calling code enforcement to get something done.

Talmadge, Chutkow and Grundy agreed, however, that Longmont should have stricter enforcement of street parking limits than in the current municipal code, as did resident Vickie Baca and former Councilman Ron Gallegos.

Baca, who lives on the 700 block of Windflower Drive, said an enforced ordinance is needed to signal to camper and RV owners and occupants "that our streets, sidewalks and parks are not a place to make your homes."

Baca said she'd like the measure to require that such vehicles be moved to new locations farther than 600 feet away from where they were originally parked.

He said the city needs a "report card" about responses to code-violation complaints so that Longmont residents making those complaints can feel like "code enforcement is listening to them, actions are being taken."

The council voted 6-1 to give preliminary approval to the ordinance cracking down on long-term parking, with Councilwoman Polly Christensen casting the only dissenting vote.

She said people living in her old-town neighborhood, where there are few garages, should be able to park their own vehicles on the street outside their homes rather than compete with the vehicles of non-residents.

But Christensen said she'd prefer to stick with the staff-suggested 72-hour requirement for moving a parked recreational vehicle or camper trailer, rather than the 48-hour period favored by the council majority.

Councilwoman Joan Peck asked the city staff what percentages of long-parked vehicles actually have people living in them.

Assistant City Manager Shawn Lewis said he did not have that information Tuesday night. He said it is not always evident, when officers check out a complaint, whether the vehicle is occupied or actually abandoned without anyone living in it.

City Manager Harold Dominguez said he's been out with officers checking out such vehicles and that there are times when no one answers the RV's door when those officers knock.

Peck said the city should consider encouraging development of another formal RV and camper park, since the only one with spaces for rent inside Longmont now is at the Boulder County Fairgrounds, and that's usually fully occupied.

Dominguez said there's a second RV and camper facility in the area, at St. Vrain State Park east of Longmont.

The ordinance would allow RV owners who are visiting Longmont residents to keep their vehicles in one location on the street for up to seven days, if the visitors or their hosts get a city permit. If they're staying longer, they'd have to move the vehicle 600 feet or more from its location after the initial seven days.

Contractors' trailers parked on the streets outside work sites could keep those trailers in place for up to 180 days before they'd have to move them, under the version of the ordinance getting initial council approval. However, some council members questioned whether six months were actually needed for a contractor to complete most projects.

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